Cronyism: A Penny For Your Thoughts, Tun

Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad’s advice last Sunday to prime minister-in-waiting, Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak to keep his cronies and family members at bay when he takes over the reins of leadership is worth pondering.

Dr Mahathir knows best. After all, he has ruled the nation for 22 years. In fact, Dr Mahathir came under virulent attacks by the western media, alleging him of practising cronyism during his term in office as prime minister.

In his website www.chedet.com, which is named after the pseudonym he used when he wrote articles for the newspapers, Dr Mahathir says that when the New Economic Policy began to show some results in the early 80s, the western media and local opponents of the government began to talk about cronyism.

“I came in for virulent attacks because some Malays actually did well in business. They were all labelled my cronies whether they were indeed my cronies or not. Anyone who succeeded was immediately defined as my crony. Many close friends, relatives and members of my family who failed in business would not be called cronies.

It is not the actual relation or association with the leader that qualifies one to be the crony of the Prime Minister. It is the success of the individual. Failures, no matter how close they may be to the Prime Minister would not be called cronies.

This left me in a quandary. As head of the Government, I had to ensure the success of the NEP objective of reducing the disparities between the bumiputeras and the non-bumis. This reduction must be achieved at all levels, not excluding the rich and the very rich. It wouldn't do to have parity among the low income and middle income only, while big businesses are all in the hands of the non-Bumiputera millionaires,” says Dr Mahathir.

But what is cronyism?

Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia has defined cronyism as partiality to long-standing friends, especially by appointing them to positions of authority, regardless of their qualifications.

“Governments are particularly susceptible to accusations of cronyism, as they spend public money. Many democratic governments are encouraged to practice administrative transparency in accounting and contracting, however there often is no clear delineation of when an appointment to government office is "cronyism".

It is not unusual for a politician to surround him- or herself with highly-qualified subordinates, and to develop social, business, or political friendships leading to the appointment to office of friends, likewise in granting government contracts. In fact, the counsel of such friends is why the officeholder successfully obtained his or her powerful position — therefore, cronyism usually is easier to perceive than to demonstrate and prove.

In the private sector, cronyism exists in organisations, often termed ‘the old boys club’ or 'the golden circle', again the boundary between cronyism and 'networking' is difficult to delineate.”

According to Wikipedia, cronyism can exist anywhere, in both free and not-so-free states. Some notable situations and examples of cronyism in world history include:

George Washington was criticised for appointing Alexander Hamilton as the first U.S. Secretary of the Treasury after Hamilton had served as Washington’s aide during the American
Revolutionary War.

Examples of cronyism can be found historically in a number of communist states. The cultural revolution in China was initially popular due to the perception that Mao Zedong was ridding the state of a number of officials who had obtained their positions by dint of friendship with communist authorities. One of the highest level cases of cronyism occurred during the Kennedy administration in the United States. Robert S. McNamara was appointed by President John F. Kennedy without any experience, a point that McNamara made clear in the 2003 documentary ‘The Fog of War.’ McNamara's role in the disastrous Vietnam War was crucial and he is often considered "the architect of the Vietnam War". Kennedy originally offered him a job as US Secretary of State and when McNamara admitted to having no experience he gave him Secretary of Defence. Even though McNamara confessed no experience in defence, Kennedy insisted he accept the position.

· US President George W. Bush was accused of cronyism after the nomination of Harriet Miers to the US Supreme Court. Miers had no previous judicial experience and demonstrated little knowledge of constitutional law, and her selection was rejected by many conservatives and liberals. The appointment of Michael D. Brown to the head of FEMA could also be considered a case of cronyism as Brown had no experience pertaining to his job. The administration has also been accused of cronyism for reducing Scooter Libby’s sentence in the Plame Affair.

Paul Wolfowitz was mentioned in connection with cronyism after the World Bank committee charged him with violation of ethical and governance rules as bank president by showing favouritism to his companion in 2005. The report noted that Mr Wolfowitz broke bank rules and the ethical obligations in his contract, and that he tried to hide the salary and promotion package awarded to Shaha Riza, his companion and a bank employee, from top legal and ethics officials in the months after he became bank president in 2005.